Internet Safety- Talking with a parent

For this part of the assignment, I spoke with my own mother about Internet Safety. My mother is the parent of four children, and she also teaches Pre-school children. I began by sharing with her some of the videos and articles I read, and what was shared in our voicethread discussion. I was surprised at how little she really knows about Internet Safety, and how she mentioned she wish she knew more because she can barely protect herself, let alone other youth. She also said she hates having to constantly ask her children how to do something on the computer because she does not know how.

I chose to share the documentary and talk with my mom a lot about what issues were brought up with the PBS video. She gave the idea of sharing examples and personal experiences from other people about things such as getting their identity stolen to help make kids aware of the serious issue it is. We also talked a lot about the issue of cyberbullying, and how devastating of a problem this is. She commented on the segment of the video where the young boy was bullied online for months, and he eventually used information from the internet and advice from a friend online to kill himself. We both discussed what a teacher or a parent can do to help prevent something like this from happening, and we both agreed it's a very difficult situation. She said that it's important not to share too much information with kids about the dangers of what is on the internet because then they can just get curious and look up things they didn't know were on there before. But, my mother also said it is important to make kids aware that this is a serious issue and if they are being bullied they need to inform a teacher or parent right away.

Overall, speaking with my mother about this issue was a very valuable experience for both of us. My mother was previously not aware of all the different dangers that can occur from the internet, but she shared very good advice about how to talk to youth about these issues. It's hard to know of all the difficulties of the internet that face students and subsequently teachers ,since we are responsible for their well-being as well. However, I think it is also important to realize all the good that can come from increased technology, and that it is a matter of figuring out how to "filter through the filth" to use the internet appropriately.